Nanming Engineer

Chapter 350
"Autumn winds and horses in Saibei, spring rain and apricot blossoms in the south of the Yangtze River, the picturesque and poetic picturesque rivers and mountains through the ages will give me a peaceful world."

Wang Huan chanted softly in his mouth, reining his horse and holding his sword standing in the loess wilderness. He was wearing a white iron armor and a scarlet cloak around his shoulders. His vicissitudes but resolute face is exceptionally handsome.

Behind him, in the wide field, there are hundreds of earth mounds half a man's height dotted around. The earth mounds are solid and solid, up to five feet thick, and the width is just enough for four or five people to work behind them without being too busy They were bombarded by iron cannons on the top of the city, and they were separated by two feet. At this time, behind each earth barrier, a group of Kuizhou soldiers were setting up thunderbolts as big as buckets. The thunderbolts were light and could be carried by several people move.

"Master Hou, let's back off first. Although the iron cannons of the Tartars are not very accurate, if there is a mistake, then..." Ma Wannian stood beside Wang Huan nervously, looking back, forth, left, and right. Look out, with your ears pricked up, listening to the shrill sound of iron bullets piercing through the air, and estimating whether any iron bullet will hit this side by chance.

This is the fifth time Ma Wannian has urged Wang Huan. The first four times were not effective. Wang Huan just looked at the city of Xi'an while reciting poems to himself.

He had already made up his mind. If Wang Huan still refused to obey and wanted to stand in front of the artillery array in an extremely coquettish manner and pretend to be cool, he would not care about his superiority and inferiority and directly used brute force to pull Wang Huan to a safe place behind him, beside him. Fighting together with more than ten personal guards, Wang Huan couldn't resist even though he was mighty.

Wang Huan was obedient this time. He turned the horse's head obediently, said "hmm" and urged the horse to run back.

Ma Wannian let out a long breath, wiped the sweat off his face, and hurriedly followed.

Wang Huan is leisurely and elegant, but he shoulders the important task of guarding the general, so he is naturally extremely nervous.

Wang Huan didn't care about Ma Wannian's nervousness. He rode his horse across the artillery positions lined up like wheat fields with gun barrels, and then galloped back for a mile to the front of the Kuizhou army formation.

Here is Li Dingguo's entire army of the Fengzi Battalion, three thousand-man infantry teams and one thousand-man cavalry team lined up in four squares, standing quietly amidst the banners and flags, like a white pine forest.

On the other side of the phalanx, Wang Yongqiang and Gao Youcai were making final preparations. Everyone was checking their equipment and weapons. The tens of thousands of people under them were staying on the side of the Kuizhou Army with somewhat fearful expressions. They were both envious and afraid. Looking at the white-robed troops who were staring straight ahead, whispering to each other, Wang Yongqiang's Yan'an Town soldiers kept shouting loudly.

Seeing Wang Huan bringing people over, Wang Yongqiang and Gao You didn't dare to neglect, and rushed to greet them.

"Master Hou, according to your instructions, we didn't prepare too much equipment such as ladders and hooks. We mainly prepared a large number of thick wooden shields, bows and arrows." Someone said that no one is allowed to rob the official warehouses in the city, and anyone who moves will be killed without mercy! After entering the city, my battle barracks will protect these places as soon as possible."

Gao Youcai went on to say: "Also, we have three articles of agreement with the refugees we have recruited. After entering the city, we are not allowed to kill good people, not to enter private houses to loot, and not to set fire to murder. Anyone who violates it will be killed without mercy!"

Wang Huan listened and nodded, and when they finished speaking, he reminded: "There is a city within the city at the northeast corner of the city, which is full of Jurchen Tartars, commonly known as Mancheng, you don't have to be polite to them, and you don't have to abide by the three chapters of the agreement. "

Wang Yongqiang and Gao Youcai laughed together, and they replied: "You don't need to mention something, the two of us have already told the people below that after today, there will not even be a tile left on the northeast corner of the city!"

Wang Huan laughed and said again: "When the cannon fires, you can march, but you must wait until the city wall collapses before approaching, in case the wall bricks fall and bury you in, no one will survive in a short time after the city wall falls. However, the supporting Tazi soldiers did not react so quickly, it is a good time for you to enter the city, as long as you guard the opening, let the people behind pour into the city continuously, and the city of Xi'an will be broken, it will be easy."

Wang Yongqiang and Gao Youcai clasped their fists together and said in a loud voice, "Please rest assured, Lord Hou, this battle will advance and never retreat, Lord Hou will wait to enter the city to examine the heads of the Tartars!"

Although the expressions of the two are awe-inspiring, they are unnaturally relaxed. Compared with the embarrassment and powerlessness they faced when they faced the Qing army alone a few days ago, the world is far away. as simple as that.

They were outside the city, and they had already made plans for entering the city before they entered the city. If Meng Qiaofang and Hahamu knew about it, I don't know how they would feel.

Different from the orderliness below the city, at this time, above the city of Xi'an, the cannons roared, the voices of people were noisy, and it was extremely busy.

"Aim and shoot! Aim and shoot!" Meng Qiaofang shouted hoarsely, hitting a gunner across the head and face with the long knife with the scabbard in her hand, cursing: "The man in the white armor and red cloak just now, It must be the chief general of the Ming army. You have fired three cannons without even touching the corner of your clothes. What are you doing? What use do I want you for?"

He had already stood on the top of the city. Just now, he saw a member of the Ming army in bright armor standing in the field for a long time in the distance outside the city. Meng Qiaofang guessed that the other commander must be observing the movement. He immediately ordered A few cannons with enough range to shoot there opened fire immediately, but unexpectedly, several cannons were fired one after another, and they all shot to other places, left or right, without even hitting the opponent's hair, and then the man waited for it slowly. Turning around to go back, that expression looked resentful.

"Sir, the accuracy of this cannon is not good. The man is standing so far away. It is not easy to hit the target with the cannon. I can't blame you for this. Sir, please calm down." Commander-in-Chief Zhao Liangdong advised. He knew that Meng Qiaofang was getting angry. , It's not very reasonable, but such random insults will inevitably chill the hearts of the soldiers. It's a critical moment to defend the city, so there can't be any unforeseen accidents, so he had to bite the bullet and go ahead.

"Hmph! A trash with poor craftsmanship! It's because he's usually lazy, so he looks like this!" Meng Qiaofang said angrily, but she still put down the knife, and the gunner knelt on the ground, not daring to vent his breath.

"Master Meng, compared to this, we still care about what those earth barriers are for?" Hahamu, who was leaning against the crenel of the city wall, said, staring at the earth barriers built by the Ming army in the distance with a puzzled face. So: "I remember I didn't see it here yesterday, why did I get it this morning?"

Meng Qiaofang walked over immediately. He was also very surprised. Last night he patrolled until late at night. When he could see before dark, there was indeed a white field outside the moat without even a grass. Unexpectedly, it was dawn this morning. Numerous earth barriers were built on the ground.

"Do you know what the Ming army did with this?" Meng Qiaofang turned her head and asked a group of soldiers under her command.

The general soldiers looked at each other in blank dismay, no one knew what the purpose of building the earth barrier was.

Zhao Liangdong is an important general under Meng Qiaofang, with a quick mind. He has been thinking about it since he saw those earth mounds. Hearing Meng Qiaofang's question now, he raised his eyebrows and blurted out: "My lord, the last general guesses that this is probably used to defend against artillery fire. of."

"Anti-cannon?" Meng Qiaofang and Hahamu looked at him together.

"Yes, please look, my lords. The figure is shaking behind the mound, and the Ming army seems to be setting up something behind." In this era, telescopes were still rare items, and this kind of optical instrument passed in from the Macau red-haired ghost was in the upper level of the Ming army. Some of them were used, and the Qing army seized them and used them as sharp weapons. They were deployed among senior officers. Meng Qiaofang and Hahamu were not of high enough rank, so they were useless.Of course, Zhao Liangdong was useless, so he squinted his eyes and said, "Since the morning, the artillery at the top of our city has been bombarding, but due to the obstacles of the earth barrier, we couldn't hit the Ming army behind, so the last general guessed, Ming The army built such solid earth barriers overnight to defend against artillery."

"Anti-cannon?" Hahamu repeated: "If Minggou wants to attack the city, he can just charge up. What is the purpose of anti-cannon in the distance? When I attacked the city in the Qing Dynasty, I never built such useless things."

Zhao Liangdong couldn't answer this question, he had never seen Hong Tianlei before.

But Meng Qiaofang's heart moved when she heard the words, and she remembered something and shouted: "Go and call Xia Guoxiang. He fought against the Ming army in the Liaodong Army a few days ago, so he must know something!"

Immediately someone answered, and they went to send an order. Xia Guoxiang was arranged by Meng Qiaofang at the north gate. Similar to the west gate, the south gate and the north gate were also besieged by the Ming army.

However, the number of Ming soldiers outside Ximen City is the largest, which is several times that of the other two places. After a little judgment, it can be seen that the main attack of the Ming army must be Ximen, and the South Gate and North Gate are just feints. The defensive forces are all concentrated here. As for the east gate, except for some rangers of the Ming army, there is no sign of a large army attacking the city.

"Lord Meng, where is King Pingxi at the moment?" Hahamu asked with a fixed gaze. He had been looking for the flags of the Qing army outside the city, but he couldn't see anything except the flags of the Ming army that stretched across the sky.

"How do I know?" Meng Qiaofang said angrily. King Pingxi was brought by Hahamu, and he should be restrained by Hahamu, but now he is wandering leisurely outside the city: "My people can't find him. .”

Hahamu gritted his teeth and waved his fist: "If he dares to play tricks and put us at risk of death, the regent king will definitely chop off his head!"

Meng Qiaofang shook her head worriedly and said softly: "Master Ha, let's worry about our heads first. Look, the Ming army has moved!"

He pointed to the outside of the city, and there was a sudden change in that piece of earth. A thick black thunderbolt emerged from behind the earth. The gunner who operated them raised the angle of elevation, and the muzzle pointed directly at the head of Xi'an city. .

Meng Qiaofang, Hahamu, Zhao Liangdong and all other Qing soldiers stopped their movements immediately, put down the shield above their heads, retracted their heads and hid behind the crenel, except for the various gunners who were still sweating profusely cleaning the barrel and cooling the barrel for the next launch. , the others watched the Ming army's next move calmly.

"boom!"

With a muffled sound, the first explosive pack flew out of the thunderbolt that emitted a plume of black smoke, rolled and roared, and hit a section of the city wall more than ten feet away to the left of the west gate.

(End of this chapter)